Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness
by WarriorOfOblivion
Summary: A novelization of Pokemon XD. Cipher has returned with a new weapon, and the only one capable of stopping it is a twelve-year-old boy.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all. This is my first fanfiction; a novelization of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. So, I guess, enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

**Prologue**

The sea shimmered with a reflection of the night sky; navy blue, studded with glittering stars and the half-slice of the moon hanging high above. A gentle ripple of waves distorted the image as the S.S. Libra plowed through the sea, leaving a trail of foamy bubbles in its wake.

At the helm of the cargo ship, Captain Ernest Lee expertly maneuvered the steering wheel. Nearby, the first mate checked the compass; satisfied that the ship was heading in the correct direction, he turned towards the captain, giving him a cheerful thumbs up. "We're on course," he confirmed, glancing out at the calm water. "And it's certainly a nice night for sailing."

The captain simply grinned in response, staring contentedly out at the water. "Indeed. It's nights like this that make you realize why you're a sailor in the first place." A moment of silence passed, broken only by the soft splash of waves against the formidable sides of the ship, before he spoke again. "Lucky we haven't had any big storms lately, huh?"

The first mate, however, wasn't paying attention to his words; instead, he was staring intently at something outside the window. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" the captain asked, furrowing his brow as he stared out the side window of the cabin. "There's nothing out there, not that I - woah!" he yelped, jumping as a helicopter buzzed by the window, continuing its path out into the open sea.

He recovered quickly, narrowing his eyes to watch the copter's progress as it turned into a mere speck in the distance and then turned to move towards them again, this time missing the ship by a large amount of space. Satisfied that the vehicle certainly wasn't openly targeting them, he shrugged. "Just the coastguard," he said, relieved it wasn't anything serious.

Another helicopter shot past the other side of the ship, and this time the first mate noticed the large red 'C' printed boldly on the side. "Do the coastguards have 'C's on the sides of their helicopters?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as the vehicle in question slowed down to hover close to the ship, blades humming lowly.

The captain turned to regard this second helicopter, noting the emblem on its side. "No," he said, haltingly, before he noticed who was piloting the aircraft. It wasn't the type of uniform you'd expect from the coastguard, anyways - white armor and a red bandanna-type thing tied around the person's neck - and suddenly, it hit him who the pilot was. He'd seen these types of uniforms before, on television broadcasts.

"It's Cipher!" he cried, releasing the steering wheel and bolting out of the cabin and onto the deck. A gentle night breeze threatened to blow his hat off, perched precariously on the crown of his head as it was, but he ignored it, glancing around. There was now a helicopter hovering on either side of the ship, and the hum of another rotor alerted him to a third vehicle above the vessel. He looked upwards, and immediately noticed the vehicle wasn't the only thing up there.

Far above the third helicopter, a massive purple and white shape was silhouetted against the darkened sky. It was descending rapidly, elegant wings spread to keep its speed in check as it moved towards the boat. The captain's mouth dropped open in an astonished 'o'. "What is that?" he asked as the first mate scurried out of the cabin behind him, following his gaze and quickly realizing what the captain was staring at.

The creature was nearly touching the ship now, and a violent flap of its wings sent it back up into the air, preventing its chest from smashing into the vessel. The action created a powerful gust of wind that buffeted the two sailors standing on the deck; the captain, still staring at the beast, was powerless to keep his hat from leaping off his head and descending towards the darkened water below. The first mate held onto his with both hands, preventing it from flying off. "Is that Lugia?" he asked.

"Lugia aren't that color, though…" the captain responded, finally regaining control of his muscles and promptly losing it again as the monster roared, spreading its wings out fully. The copters, their pilots noticing this action, zipped away from the creature like startled birds as its chest began to glow purple. The light grew stronger and darker until, with a sharp, high-pitched scream from the beast, a giant beam of energy exploded from its body and smashed into the ship.

Upon seeing this, both sailors braced for impact, but there was only a surprisingly mild jolt as the beam made contact with the top of the vessel. The creature arched its neck, violet feathers bristling with the movement, and gave a powerful beat of its wings. In response, the ship creaked alarmingly, nose angling ever so slightly upwards towards the sky. There was a moment of silence while the beast regained its strength, and then another powerful wingbeat sent it upwards into the sky, with the vessel in tow.

A violent shudder wracked the ship and, caught unprepared, the captain and first mate were knocked off their feet, sent tumbling into the waters below. The monster roared in pain as it lifted its cargo even higher into the air, gravity wrestling with the ship as it attempted to drag it back down to the water. But the creature was not to be deterred, and - perhaps realizing this - the copters swung around with a buzzing noise, zooming off in the opposite direction.

The beast turned to follow, spinning around with lazy movements of its wings. The captain caught a glance of one of its eyes glowing a bright, unnatural crimson, before it took off in pursuit of the copters, the beats of its wings turning from erratic to regular, a steady rhythm that carried the violet creature off into the distance.

In the water, the first mate fumbled for a Poke Ball, releasing a Staryu that he promptly clung on to in an attempt to keep himself afloat. After a pause, the captain did the same thing, sending out a Croconaw and grabbing onto its back as the copters and the violet creature disappeared into the distance, and the landscape was silent once more.

The waves lapped at their chests in the quiet before it was broken by a single word.

"Shit," said Captain Ernest Lee.

**A/N: First of all, the prologue is short because…it's a prologue. The other chapters will be longer then this, I promise. The first chapter should be up tomorrow or the day after. Thanks for reading! **


	2. Chapter 2

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**The Altrox: No worries; I'm planning to make some alterations to the storyline. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Now, I'm writing in a strange sort of perspective, so if I make any mistakes with the perspective (using the wrong tense of a verb, for example), please notify me! I'm pretty accustomed to this style already, which is why I'm using it, but I do make mistakes occasionally. **

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 1**

"Salamence, Earthquake!" I yell.

The dragon, ruby and sapphire scales glittering in the light of the desert sun, rears onto its back legs. There is a pause before it slams its front legs into the ground, but when it does, cracks immediately appear in the dry earth, twisting towards our foe - the ground rumbles alarmingly, cracking and fissuring beneath the weight of the steel monster we're battling.

The Metagross collapses to the ground but manages to lift itself back up with no little effort. It promptly folds its legs under its body, using its natural magnetic properties and power to lift itself into the air, where it hovers, showing it won't be injured by another Earthquake. It opens its mouth slowly, spitting out a glob of toxic sludge at Salamence. The dragon tries to leap out of the way, but to no avail; the purple goo splashes against its side. Roaring in pain, it lowers its neck to stare its enemy in the eyes, fanning its crescent-shaped red wings. I smile. "Brick Break!"

Salamence pushes off from the ground with a thrust from its muscular legs, soaring into the air with a few flaps of its crimson wings. Another shot of sludge just clips its tail, and it hovers there for a moment, both front legs glowing bright red, before it abruptly descends towards Metagross. The metal beast is frantically shooting sludge at this point - it splatters against Salamence's scales, but the dragon somehow manages to keep its wings free of the mess, and it keeps flying. Not slowing its speed even slightly, it makes short work of the last few feet of air leading up to its foe, and slams both glowing front legs into the creature's head.

Metagross makes a metallic screeching sound in protest as the weight of the dragon's legs slams it into the ground. It attempts to struggle back up again, but the energy has left its limbs; the light behind its eyes flickers out and it falls to the earth with a thud where it lays, inanimate.

There is a pause before the colosseum, the Pokémon, and the trainers all dissolve. I am left standing in the blackness as glowing blue-green lights flicker before my eyes, and I quickly lift my hands up, pulling the virtual reality goggles from my face.

The real world shimmers into being.

"Nice job, Michael," someone says. I turn and immediately notice who is speaking; it's one of my friends at the lab, Stefan, standing nearby. As usual, he's got a lazy grin on his face, the kind worn by people who are content with doing nothing for an entire day, which is basically what he does as a lab assistant. "You're getting much better. You handled that Salamence like it was your own Eevee. Speaking of which - maybe you should think about training some new Pokémon, hmm?"

I snort. "Maybe," I reply. Every single time I use the sim battle machine - and I kid you not - he says nearly the exact same thing. It's becoming routine, and I don't know if that's why he keeps it up, or if there's another reason.

"Anyway," he says, "your mom and Professor Krane were looking for you a few minutes ago, but I didn't want to drag you out of your battle."

"Oh?" I ask. This is new; usually they come to me in person at extremely inopportune times, like when I'm doing homework or planning to take a trip to the woods to train Prince, my Eevee. "Okay, I'll go find them." I'm pretty sure I know where they are, at least. "Thanks."

"No problem," Stefan responds. "Maybe I'll try out the battle sim while you're gone."

Now, not to be mean, but Stefan isn't the best trainer. He's got one Pokémon, something called a Patrat; it's from Unova, and unlike Unova, you have to fill out absolutely zero permits to get one over to Orre. Usually, when you take foreign Pokémon into a different region, the officials freak out because, if you release them or they simply escape, they can end up mating and you'll have invasive species, which nobody wants. Therefore, you have to sign forms, and lots of them. In Orre, there are no wild Pokémon. You're more likely to receive a medal for introducing a population of wild Pokémon then even risk getting arrested.

He only has the Patrat because his relatives live in Unova, and it was a fifteenth birthday present - he's around seventeen now, and it's still a Patrat. That alone should be enough to show that he doesn't really know how to train, or doesn't care enough to; like I've mentioned, he's perfectly content with sitting down and doing nothing.

Instead of telling him that using the battle sim is probably not the best idea, however, I nod and smile. "Sounds good. Well, I'll be back later," I add, and head out of the room, crossing the hallway and heading into the office where I'm assuming my mother and Professor Krane are. This assumption turns out to be correct. Krane is behind the desk and my mother is facing me with the usual business-like expression on her face.

"Hello, Michael," she says, her voice friendly but stiff. "Have you finished training? Did you come to pay a visit to Professor Krane?"

Before I can reply, Krane laughs. "You don't need to be so formal all the time, Lily, especially not with your son!"

"But…" she trails off, looking rather downtrodden.

"So, Mike," Krane continues, using my nickname; only my sister and Professor Krane use this short version of my name, and I'm not sure exactly why it's only them out of all the lab assistants. I do know my mother prefers to call me Michael because that name was given to me by my father, and that's sort of her way of remembering him. "I hear you've been doing well with the battle sim - the people that watch the matches say your skills are improving greatly."

"I wish everyone wouldn't drown my children with such praise all the time," my mother sighs. "They're going to become spoiled rotten if this goes on."

Krane chuckles. "I'm sure they won't. They're wonderful kids, and they're intelligent enough not to take things for granted."

Mom takes a moment to digest this praise, and then she turns to me. "Anyways, Michael, have you seen your sister lately?"

Crap. Well, I'm not sure exactly why she thinks I have, seeing that I've been training most of the day using the battle sim, but I guess it never hurts to ask. "Uh…no," I tell her. "Has she run off again?"

"I think so; I haven't seen her at all since breakfast." You might expect a mother to be worried about the fact her daughter is missing, but Jovi - that's my sister's name - goes missing with depressing regularity, and most of the time it's on purpose. At this point, whenever it happens, we take it in stride and go look for her. I suggested attaching a tracking device to her hair - I don't know where she got her hairstyle, but on top of her head are two spears of hair with circles on the tops, a perfect place for hiding a chip - but my mother would have none of it.

"So, I suppose you want me to go find her?" I ask, scowling. It's not that I really had plans to do anything else today; the problem lies with the fact that this is the third time this week she's gone missing, and it's only Thursday. I'm getting tired of looking for her.

Mom ignores my disgruntled expression and smiles at me instead. "That would be a great help; I've got a load of work to do. Thanks, Michael."

Krane gives me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry we have to ask you to do this, Mike, but this project is finally on the verge of coming together. It's taken five long years, but we're almost done, and we need your mother's knowledge to put all the pieces into their proper places. I've left a P*DA in your room, though; consider it a thank you for putting up with this." He barks out a short laugh. "Go check it out. It's a pretty useful little tool; it can do a lot of things, including sending e-mail. I'm sure you'll find it's a big help, and I don't think you'll have any trouble figuring it out."

This is why Professor Krane is my favorite out of all the people who are not related to me here. "Thank you, Professor," I respond enthusiastically, my feet already moving me in the direction of my room. He chuckles and goes back to talking with my mom.

To the average visitor, the lab is nearly impossible to figure out. There are two separate buildings and an overabundance of rooms; I still get lost now and then, and I've been here for around five years. The one place I always know how to get to is my room, and it only takes me a minute to reach it - when I do, I immediately notice the mechanical object now resting on my bedside table.

I grab it and quickly find the power switch. When I press it, about four metal pieces shift to reveal two circular screens, one larger then the other. A moment later, it beeps, and the glowing white icon of an envelope appears in the top left corner of the screen. An e-mail already? I tap the icon and the message pops up, filling the larger of the screens.

_Michael -_

_If you're reading this, you've obtained the P*DA. Before you go crazy testing out its many features, I thought you could use a little help in your hunt for Jovi. So, here's your 'hint' - Adon was playing hide-and-seek with her. He might know something about where she's gotten off to. Why not have a chat with him?_

_- Krane_

Well, that's a lot of help - now I have to go play hide-and-seek. Frowning at the P*DA, I tuck it safely into my pocket, setting it to sleep mode in case I get another email. I have no doubt Jovi's off exploring somewhere that's not near the lab, so I grab a few potions from my bedside drawer and stuff them into the pouch at my hip in case any battles are involved.

With that, I step out of my room and make my way into the hallway. There are several people wandering around the corridors, most of which are carrying pieces of machinery, likely for use in making the Purify Chamber or the Snag Machine; our two pet projects at the moment. I fall into step behind the only lab assistant whose name I remember, a man called Ryan, in the hopes he's seen Adon recently.

I tap him on the shoulder to get his attention, and he nearly drops the stuff he's holding. With a muffled curse, he whirls around, and the sight of me does nothing to keep him from getting irritated - did I mention he doesn't really like me much, ever since Prince and I beat his Ralts five times in a row? "What, Michael?" he asks waspishly.

I keep my face as innocent as I can make it. "Do you know where Adon is?"

"No, I don't," he hisses through his teeth and resumes walking towards the elevator. Maybe he doesn't actually know, or maybe he just wants to spite me - it doesn't matter, however, because another lab assistant hears me and is more then happy to answer.

"I saw him downstairs, running around and muttering something about hiding," the assistant says, furrowing her brow as I look at her. "I don't know what he was doing, but that's where he was…"

Adon has never been good at hiding. "Thanks," I tell her, and then follow Ryan into the elevator. The ride to the upper floor is spent in stony silence as he ignores me, and as soon as the door opens he walks off as fast as he can while still carrying what appears to be an assortment of wrenches and computer chips in his arms.

I roll my eyes at his retreating figure and then move out of the elevator. The doors to the rooms are always left open to keep fresh air circulating around the building, and when I find a door that's closed it quickly raises my suspicions. I lift my ID card from where it rests on my neck - I wear it in the form of a necklace, along with several keys - and insert it into the scanner. The device considers my ID and then decides to accept it with a mechanical beep; the door slides open to reveal a plain-looking room with scientific equipment scattered across the single table pressed against one of the walls. It's not the equipment I'm interested in, though; it's the man under the table, pressed flat to the floor.

I walk over to him and nudge him with my shoe. He yelps, startled, and jerks his head up so fast he hits it on the table. When he notices me, he frowns. "What did you do that for?" he asks, rubbing the top of his skull.

"Sorry," I apologize, squatting down to examine him with amusement. "I'm looking for Jovi, and I hear you were playing hide-and-seek with her. Do you know where she might have gone?"

He scowls. "We're _supposed _to be playing hide-and-seek, but I guess she forgot. Maybe she's gone off to Dr. Kaminko's manor; she's been spending a lot of time there lately, or so she tells me. It's a big, weird-looking house southeast of here. No way in hell you'll miss it."

"Thanks for the directions," I say wryly.

He ignores my sarcasm. "Just go find her and bring her back soon, Michael. My back is really starting to hurt." As if to accent his point, he reaches back and rubs his spine with a look of suffering on his face, which I have to work not to laugh at.

"Of course," I say with another roll of my eyes, and march out the door, only glancing back once to observe Adon with his face pressed against the carpet again. You'd think he'd take advantage of the fact it's going to take me a while to find Jovi and get out of that cramped space and stretch a bit, but no. I don't bother to close the door again as I leave, but that will probably make him harder to find. Nobody looks in obvious places, and a closed door is anything but obvious. An open door? Not so much.

As I step into the hallway, I am intercepted by a lab worker. I recognize this one as someone who's watched my sim battle matches - if I'm not mistaken, his name is Henry - and he greets me by latching onto my arm.

"Henry, cut it out," I tell him. "I need to go find Jovi, and I don't have time for whatever this is."

He ignores my protests. "You can find her in just a minute. You need to see this news report right now - it's crazy." And with that, he drags me off to a nearby room that I instantly recognize as the lounge. There are several tables and several workers sitting at them with mugs of coffee nearby; I can tell it's coffee from the smell in the room. They're not drinking any of it now, however; their eyes are fixed on the TV and they're watching what appears to be ONBS News.

"Authorities have still failed to find any trace of the cargo ship S.S. Libra since its mysterious disappearance off the coast of Gateon Port only days earlier. There have been no reports of flotsam that may have indicated the sinking or wreck of the ship, and authorities are mystified as to how it managed to vanish without a trace. Numerous Pokémon were on board the ship at the time of its departure, and concern is rising over their welfare," the woman on screen - Ancha - announces.

As soon as the last word leaves her lips, everyone in the room starts talking about this piece of news. Their voices meld together and I can't really hear any specific words until Henry pipes up. "Isn't that weird? A cargo ship full of Pokémon, just disappearing without a trace…it's kind of a little hard to believe…" He trails off, glancing at the Psyduck and Quagsire milling about in the corner of the room, probably thinking about the Pokémon that were lost.

"Uh, Henry? Could you let go of my arm?" I ask.

"Oh, yeah," he replies, releasing it almost immediately. "Sorry!"

I don't bother replying, since he immediately starts mumbling to himself about something or other; instead, I walk out of the room and half-close the door behind me, because it's pretty loud in there.

I take the elevator downstairs and head outside. It's late afternoon, and the weather's nice; the sky is bright blue with only a few wisps of cloud, certainly not enough to obscure the blazing sun. There are people standing around the yard, training with their Pokémon, and I spot Stefan racing his Patrat from one end of the field to another. He's probably on another one of his training crazes; every so often, he gets really serious about training for about three days and then stops completely. There's also a dark-haired girl standing next to her Meowth, watching it sharpen its claws on a tree trunk, and a blue-haired boy training his Pineco by having it ram repeatedly into the trunk of a pine tree, causing pine needles and pinecones to fall from the branches like rain. For a moment, I toy with the idea of releasing Prince and letting him play around for a bit, but something tells me he'll get time outside of his Poke Ball soon, not to mention I need to get Jovi back home before dark. So instead, I go to get my scooter.

Now, I know what you're thinking: why am I expecting to get anywhere quickly on a scooter? The answer is, my scooter is not the scooter you're probably thinking of; it's gas-powered, and is a bit like a motorcycle, except with less danger and a much lower top speed of around twenty-five miles an hour. Also, it has a GPS that Krane installed so I know where I'm going. A word to the wise - don't ride it while it's raining. Bad idea.

I find it where I left it - chained to the bike rack. That's usually the safest place for it, as the bike rack has rainproof shields built in. Unclipping a key from my necklace, I unlock the padlock keeping the scooter in place, and then take the vehicle's key itself from around my neck. I insert the key into the scooter - the engine purrs to life and I tap the pedal lightly with my foot, steering the vehicle in a half-circle. When it's facing the woods, I push the pedal down all the way, and accelerate onto the road.


	3. Chapter 3

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**Chapter 2**

As soon as I'm on the road, I turn the GPS on and type in 'Kaminko's house' as my destination. There is a pause while the computer figures out what location I mean, but as soon as it realizes exactly where the lab is, there is a burst of static and a robotic voice speaks.

"Destination KAMINKO'S HOUSE has been set. Confirm destination?"

Two icons appear on the GPS screen - one for yes, one for no - and I tap the yes one immediately. There is a loud beep, and I turn a rather sharp corner in the dirt road, kicking up a cloud of dust and grit, before the computer speaks again. "Average speed: 20 miles an hour. Range: 43 miles. Time to destination: 10 minutes. Turn right in .3 miles." Each bit of information the robotic voice tells me appears on the GPS screen as I cruise down the road, performing a right turn when the voice tells me to and realizing just how completely lost I would be without the device. Satisfied I'm getting the right directions now, I lean back slightly, still gripping the handlebars as trees and grass meld together into an endless green blur.

It's barely three minutes later that I notice a change in the air. Before, it possessed the sort of lazy warmth of your typical afternoon; now there's a certain sharpness about it, and when I glance up it's immediately clear why. Charcoal-gray clouds are beginning to close in around the edges of the sky, clouds I certainly hadn't seen before when setting out.

Unfortunately, it's not like I have a choice to turn back to the HQ lab; I _need _to find my sister. So I steel myself, hope it won't rain - and if it does, that my GPS won't immediately short out - and continue forwards. My scooter isn't any good in the rain, for sure.

As I near Kaminko's house, the sky grows steadily darker. The clouds spread, consuming every trace of blue under a blanket of darkness, and soon enough a rumble of thunder announces the coming of a storm, along with a flash of lightning that turns everything bright white for a brief moment. I blink spots from my vision and loosen up slightly on the accelerator as I round a corner and see the edge of a low stone wall. Instead of some type of barbed wire on the top of the wall like I'd expect, there are curled green sticks at irregular intervals, barely visible in the dim light.

It's not long before I find the gates, and as soon as I do, I park the scooter just outside the wall, under the spread of a particularly leafy tree, to protect it from the rain. The robotic voice has just started to - belatedly - inform me that I have arrived when I remove the key from the vehicle. The voice promptly gets stuck in a decrescendo on the end of the word 'have' and trails off into silence.

I raise an eyebrow at the scooter, but my expression is wasted on the inanimate object and after a moment I turn away and walk through the gates into the courtyard.

Another fork of lightning illuminates the scene, and I clearly see the electricity streak straight down towards the ground. I take a step backwards, startled, and watch the bolt hit a massive building in front of me, but it's not hitting the building - it's hitting one of the strange protrusions sticking up from either side of the roof. Both of them are crackling with electricity, and appear to be made of steel; that's probably what attracted the lightning in the first place.

Two huge dead trees stick up from the soil on either side of the building, seeming somewhat out of place among the pines standing just outside the fence. They do add to the overall gloomy atmosphere, however, and I assume that's the kind of atmosphere they're trying to cultivate here. Smirking at the thought, I walk towards the door of the building, passing a fountain with a statue of Groudon atop it as I do so. It seems like a strange choice for a water feature; replacing it with a Kyogre would make a lot more sense.

"WAIT!" someone yells as I approach the door, and I whirl around at the sound. A small man is walking in my direction - another bright flash of lightning reveals that he's wearing a white lab coat and thick glasses with swirls on them where his eyes should be. This seems so monumentally idiotic I have to stare at him in confusion for a few moments before I register his next words: "Who goes there?"

When he finally manages to waddle his way up to me, he stares at me and frowns. The expression is probably meant to be fierce, but I can't take anything about him seriously while he's wearing those glasses - I mean, how does he see? "You must be a burglar! Chobin will make you leave!" he shouts loudly, although his words are mostly drowned out by a clap of thunder that causes my teeth to rattle in my mouth.

"Chobin is the name!" he continues, a note of pride in his voice, but I'm mostly ignoring him and thanking Arceus it hasn't started to rain. "Chobin is the number one assistant to Dr. Kaminko! Chobin is the only assistant, so Chobin has to be the number one assistant!"

…Great. I wonder if he started talking in third person because of Jovi, or if Jovi started talking in third person because of him. I guess it _could _be a coincidence, of course, but I doubt it.

Before I can react, he shoves his glasses farther up his nose, adjusts his bowtie, and throws a Poke Ball at me. I jump off the stairs to avoid the projectile, and it hurtles by inches above my head and then pops open. A blaze of white light reveals a Sunkern; the Pokémon chirps excitedly, ready for battle, as I step back onto the cement and fumble for my own Poke Ball. My fingers eventually close around it, and a flick of my wrist sends it spinning through the air. Prince appears in a similar flash of white, tilting his head and staring at his opponent with interest.

Prince is a lot better trained then Sunkern; we've been together for nearly five years and have been working on battle strategies almost ever since. Without a verbal command from me, the Eevee lunges forwards, slamming his body into the seed Pokémon's face. It tumbles backwards with a squeak of pain. Prince innocently blinks and mews at it, as though asking if it's okay.

Sunkern is not fooled by this, and at Chobin's command, sends out a beam of red light from the double leaves atop its head. The light strikes Prince and shatters into several glittering green orbs that dart back towards Sunkern, absorbing into its body and restoring its health.

As soon as Prince recovers, he bears his teeth and pounces on Sunkern with a harsh little growl. His teeth sink into its side, and he shakes it violently before releasing it; it skids along the cement with a weak squeal and moves no more.

Chobin stares at me, openmouthed, as though he can't quite believe he lost, as I recall Prince with a word of thanks. It takes several seconds for him to remember how to move his mouth, as well as the fact his Sunkern has fainted; when he does, he returns the Pokémon in a whirl of red light and crosses his arms.

"You've made Chobin angry now," he declares in a squeaky voice that is not threatening in the slightest. If anything, it's mildly amusing. "Chobin might have lost, but you are not getting past Chobin!" He crosses his arms, as though this will make him harder to push aside.

I step forwards, and just as it looks like things are going to get violent, his glasses slide down his nose and his mouth drops open. "Oh, wait - closer observation reveals that the subject is a child! Therefore, the subject is not a burglar!"

This is not entirely true. There are a lot of child burglars, but I don't bother going into that with him; I don't think he'd understand, and it would probably just make him continue to refuse me entrance. Chobin chuckles sheepishly, uncrosses his arms, and rubs the back of his neck. "Chobin wishes you spoke up right away."

"You didn't exactly give me any time to," I grumble in response, but Chobin shows no indication of having heard me.

"Chobin apologizes for jumping to the wrong conclusion." He pushes his glasses back up his nose again and looks at me; I assume he's looking at me, at least, but I can't tell when his eyes are hidden behind those ridiculous glasses. I bet he's ruining his eyesight, and it serves him right. "Who are you?"

"Michael -" I start, and then the door creaks open. I'm expecting to see the mad scientist guy who owns this house at first, until I notice the person is about half my height and has light blue hair in a style so strange it could only belong to one person - my sister, Jovi.

She notices me immediately, of course. "Big brother!" she chimes, looking at me with wide eyes, the very picture of confused innocence, second only to Prince. "Why are you here?"

Before I can tell her that I'm looking for her, she starts talking again. She has difficulty with keeping that mouth shut for more then two seconds at a time, I've noticed. "Wait! Jovi gets it! You got lost, big brother, didn't you?"

"Um, no," I start to reply, but before I can continue she interrupts me, shaking her head quickly from side to side.

"There's no hiding stuff from Jovi!" she tells me with wide eyes. "Because Jovi knows! Jovi also knows this big house belongs to Dr. Kaminko, and she knows his job is to make incredible inventions. She can tell because there are a whole bunch of cool machines, like at the HQ lab! You should come in, big brother!" And without waiting for a reply, she turns and dashes back into the building.

Chobin's expression matches mine - irritated.

"You are that girl's older brother?" he asks. "Sometimes she comes here, but she wanders around the lab and Chobin finds it difficult to keep an eye on her…Chobin does not want her bothering the doctor." There is a moment of silence before he speaks again, with a lot more enthusiasm in his tone. "Michael, you will come look at Dr. Kaminko's inventions, yes? This way, please!"

"Doesn't look like I have much of a choice," I mutter. Things are not working in my favor today, but I need to get Jovi home, so I follow Chobin into the building without protest - audible protest, at least.

Inside, it looks like you might expect a mad scientist's lab to look. There are dials and monitors set along the walls, along with pipes snaking from the ceiling and into the floor. Heavy steel doors block the entrances into any of the adjacent areas, and in the middle of the room is an oversized plasma monitor.

As soon as he spots me, Chobin launches back into pointless rant mode. "Chobin will now show you the inventions of the amazing Dr. Kaminko! Dr. Kaminko's inventions are number one in the world! How does Chobin know this? Simple; in the whole wide world, no one else would invent such inventions as Dr. Kaminko does! Therefore, they are number one in the world!"

There is enough wrong with his reasoning to write a book about it, but I hold my tongue - I don't want to stay here any longer then I need to.

Chobin glances at the leftmost door. "Dr. Kaminko, who is most great, is inventing in there. Chobin assumes that girl is at Dr. Kaminko's side again," he says with a sigh, shaking his head. "Chobin hopes she is causing no disturbance…"

Girls are annoying, Chobin - get used to it. That's what I want to say, at least, but I don't think he's ever met a girl in his life and isn't likely to ever meet one besides Jovi, so I don't bother.

"Anyways," Chobin says, drawing my attention back to the monitor, "let Chobin show you one of Dr. Kaminko's most amazing inventions. Let the VCR roll!"

Wow. They still have a VCR here? Most people have switched to DVD players, but I know Orre isn't the most technologically advanced area (ignoring the HQ lab, of course) or the most well known. It's difficult to get shipments from other regions unless you personally know the person in the other region - the authorities can get things, but most of the average citizens can't.

I blink, startled, as the videotape starts. I immediately spot one thing that's wrong; Chobin's face is taking up half of the screen. I don't know who taught him how to record things on camera, but he sucks at it. His face is almost pressed to the lens, after all, and his head is bobbing up and down as if he's in the water. "Dr. Kaminko has many great inventions, and Chobin wishes he could show you them all at once, but Chobin's choice for today is the unhealthy sandals!"

Unhealthy sandals? I'm…not going to say anything. This guy is one weirdo scientist…

"The sole is studded with lumpy nubs that fail to stimulate every pressure point in a fabulous way," Chobin continues. "Keep wearing these, and Chobin guarantees painful feet and chronic worsening of your health!"

Huh…what kind of scientist even does this? Is he making pranks for people he hates, or something? I have no doubt all of his inventions have just as much comic value as these, but really? Don't people have better things to do with their time? How about making something useful, like a Pokémon translator?

As I stand there, staring at the now-dark screen with my mouth half open, Chobin laughs. His laugh isn't quite up to mad scientist caliber, but then again he's only the assistant. "Is it not incredible? There are many more inventions! The doctor's fantastic inventions can be seen on this monitor. Chobin gives you permission to watch it any time you like! Surely you will agree that Dr. Kaminko's inventions are number one in the whole wide world!" He spreads his arms apart to show how big said wide world is.

"That's…uh…great, Chobin," I tell him, "and I'd love to stay and look at more of Dr. Kaminko's inventions, but I really have to get my sister and go."

Chobin nods. "Good. Chobin hopes she has not distracted the doctor too much."

Trying not to look like I'm in too much haste to get away from him, I stride towards the door set into the left wall. It opens automatically as I approach, as many of the doors in the HQ lab do, and I quickly notice Jovi, who is hovering at the shoulder of an older man with broccoli-shaped gray hair.

I walk up to her and tap her on the shoulder.

"Oh, hi, big brother!" she chimes, pointing at a blueprint on the table with her index finger. "This is a really weird drawing. I think it's of a big machine!" she adds.

"Here's the deal, Jovi - we have to leave, like right now. Mom was wondering where you were, and she wants us both back at home," I tell her flatly.

Of course, she completely ignores the 'we'. "Are you going home already, big brother?" she asks. "But you just got here! You can't leave -" She trails off, and a wide smile spreads across her face. "Oooooh. Jovi gets it now! Jovi needs to show you the way home, and that's what Jovi will do! Jovi will take you home! Come on, Mimi, let's go home with big brother," she adds, and the Minun in the corner of the room smiles and chirps in response, leaping at her and climbing up onto her shoulder.

That's right - she named her Minun Mimi. Her Plusle's name is equally unoriginal; Pluplu, if you can believe it. She doesn't really have a knack for names.

"You!" Dr. Kaminko suddenly yells, and I jerk backwards reflexively. The man is staring at me, his glasses - like Chobin's - are marked with swirls, though the glass isn't quite as thick. "Will you do me a favor?"

"Depends on what it is," I reply cautiously.

"Will you test this invention for me?" he asks, his voice overly loud. "I call it…the odd candy!" At this point, he lifts a small object from his desk and shoves it in my face. I look at it, cross-eyed, as I back up. "It looks like candy, and it even smells like candy! But it tastes like broccoli!" he yells, his voice gaining several levels of volume by the end of this sentence.

"So it's still candy," I respond with a sigh.

He pauses, as though he hasn't thought of this. "Yes. But it's special candy!" he adds defensively.

"Yeah, okay," I say. "I'll test it for you." I can use it for pranks if nothing else, and it'll be hilarious to see Ryan's face when he eats a piece.

"Excellent!" he declares, shoving a bag of what I assume is the odd candy at me."Take this, and report back to me soon!" As soon as I grab it, he turns back to whatever blueprint is lying on his table and starts barking orders at a man in a colorful flower print shirt, who scrambles to hand the scientist a screwdriver and wrench. I shake my head, amused, and shove the bag of candy into the pouch at my hip.

Before I can move anywhere, though, the man in the flowery shirt notices me. "You came from the Pokémon HQ lab, right?" he asks, narrowing his eyes at me. When I nod in response, the man smiles. "Well, I'm Makan, and I run the Parts Shop in Gateon Port. When you get back to the lab, would you mind telling Professor Krane that his machine part is ready?"

"Sure," I respond, and - with Jovi at my heels - walk out into the main room of the house.

I find Chobin staring at the monitor, which features half of his face talking about yet another invention, a power-saving refrigerator. I don't stop to say goodbye to him, however - I want to get home right away - so I grab Jovi's arm when she tries to run over to him and drag her out the door.

It's weird, because almost as soon as I step out the door the P*DA buzzes, like it's been waiting for this moment. I pull it from my pocket immediately, tap the 'on' switch; the panels flip to reveal the screens and a waiting message for me, from Krane.

_Michael -_

_You appear to have traveled far in your search for Jovi; come back to the HQ lab as soon as you find her. I need your help with something important. _

_-Krane_

I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand, irritated. Jovi, luckily, hasn't run off, and is regarding the screen with big eyes. "The Professor wants you to come home quickly?" She stops for a moment, obviously thinking, and then jumps in place. "Jovi is worried about letting you go by yourself, so Jovi will come home too, big brother! Let's go right now!"

"Good," I say. "Let's go."

The weather hasn't improved during the brief visit to Kaminko's house, I notice as I shove the P*DA back in my pocket. It's still cloudy, and the thunder seems to be causing the very air to vibrate, but, most importantly, it hasn't started to rain. I find my scooter sitting where I left it, and when I insert the key it rumbles to life with nearly the same pitch as the thunder.

I hop on and grab the handlebars. Jovi climbs on behind me with a little more effort, holding her Minun to her chest with one hand and holding herself on the scooter with the other, by wrapping her free arm around my waist. I know from past experience telling her to recall Mimi is useless, and it'll only get her irritated at me, so I tap the accelerator and turn in a circle, driving towards the gate.

"Hang on tight," I advise her as we reach the road again and I push my foot down on the pedal harder, though I don't bring the vehicle to its full speed - I don't feel like a visit to the hospital this late in the day.


	4. Chapter 4

**UnendingSilenceOfSong: And you don't even know what I'm writing about, do you? lol**

**Dracarot: Replied to you in a PM but as for everyone else - by range, I mean miles until the scooter is out of fuel. **

**Hollow Mashiro: Thanks for the advice!**

**Also, sorry for the wait on this chapter, I've been busy with schoolwork leading up to winter break. But here it is!**

**Chapter 3**

The sky is clear by the time we reach the lab once more. The charcoal-dark clouds from earlier seem to have disappeared, which is interesting; there must be something to the whole 'mad scientist with lightning in the background' thing. I drive the scooter the last few feet to the bike rack and park it right next to the steel structure, and as soon as the vehicle has come to a complete stop, Jovi leaps off and runs up to the lab.

With a sigh, I turn off the scooter, lock it to the rack, and glance in Jovi's direction before I start following her. Mom is standing at the steps with her arms crossed, looking none too pleased, but Jovi doesn't notice this; I can tell from where I'm currently standing that her mouth is moving a mile a minute, and as I take the last few steps up to my mother and sister, her words become a little clearer.

"-and Big Brother was lost, so Jovi had to go find him with Mimi's help. Jovi had to bring him back here, too. If Jovi weren't there, Jovi bets he'd be crying now about how he can't get home! Right, Big Brother?" she asks, spinning around to stare at me. I blink and look up at Mom, who winks at me.

"My, my, Jovi," she says, now smiling; Jovi turns back to face her and I roll my eyes. "You're such a brave girl, aren't you? Since you've finished rescuing your brother, I think you should go find Adon; he must be tired of waiting for you, hmm?"

Jovi stares up at her blankly for a moment, and I can literally see the lightbulb go on in her brain when she realizes what Mom is talking about. "Oh yeah! Jovi was playing hide-and-seek! Jovi should go find him before he gets scared! Bye, Big Brother!"

"He's hiding under a table," I blurt out, but Jovi is already halfway to the lab entrance before I get the sentence out and, predictably, she doesn't hear it. I feel bad for Adon; he's going to be stuck there for a while. With a sigh, I turn back to Mom, raising an eyebrow. "So. Why did Krane e-mail me to get back here?"

"Why don't you go ask him? He's in the first room on the left, through the main entrance." She pauses and eyes the lab speculatively. "Where was Jovi, anyway?"

"At some mad scientist's house," I reply, shrugging. "It wasn't anything bad, if that's what you're worried about. She was just bugging people. In fact, there was a guy from the Parts Shop there. I think his name was Makon, or Makan, or something? Either way, he said there was a machine part ready for pickup."

"Oh, all right," she says with a nod. "Thanks, Michael."

"No problem," I tell her, spinning around and heading for the lab doors. They slide open as I approach, granting me access into the lab, which (owing to the AC) is nice and cool, a welcome change from the warmth outside. One of the problems of living in a giant desert is the constant heat, even when the sun's going - or has gone - down.

The first thing I notice is that Lucy, the receptionist, has fallen asleep on her desk. Her head is buried in a pile of assorted papers, but luckily there are no visitors or staff waiting to talk to her. When I tap her on the shoulder to wake her up, she jerks into a sitting position, causing me to leap back, startled. "I wasn't sleeping!" she starts before her eyes land on me and she visibly relaxes. "Oh. Hi, Michael."

"Hi," I say, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. "Not that I'd love to argue that you were sleeping, but I need to talk to Professor Krane."

"Okay," she says, nodding, her eyes already half-closed, not bothering to defend herself. It doesn't surprise me she's tired; she barely ever sleeps, just stays up sitting there nearly all hours of the day.

Instead of telling her to wake up again, I head towards the room Krane is supposed to be in. The door is closed, but slides open as I approach; this is new, because the doors are usually locked or always open. Two people are standing there, staring at a strange machine. There's Aidan, his short blue hair sticking up as though he's just been electrocuted, which is actually quite probable. Krane, on the other hand, is walking towards me with a smile, hands folded behind his back as usual.

"Michael!" he greets me. "We've had people working on the doors to make them less of a hassle to open. But that's beside the point - come this way," he says, inclining his head towards the machine Aidan is still staring at. As soon as I get closer to the blue-haired man, I immediately notice the proud smile on his face.

Hmm. What's been going on here, I wonder?

"I'd like to show you the Snag Machine," Krane announces, pointing somewhat unnecessarily at it. "Has Aidan said anything to you about this machine?"

"No," I say with a tilt of my head. "But if I had to take a guess…it snags Pokémon. 'Snag' being a euphemism for 'steal'."

"Exactly," Krane responds. "It's a special device, one-of-a-kind - assuming the last one was destroyed - that's meant to be used for snagging Pokémon. Aidan and I have been developing it. I suppose you're wondering why we would make such a clearly terrible thing, but that explanation will have to wait just a second…would you help us test it out?"

"Um, testing doesn't involve stealing from people, right?" I ask. "If it doesn't, I'm in."

Krane nods. "Excellent. Aidan, if you'd get it ready while I explain." When Aidan grunts in response and reaches out towards the machine, Krane continues. "This Snag Machine was made specifically to steal Pokémon from trainers, as you know. We didn't make it to indiscriminately take people's Pokémon, however. Have you heard of Shadow Pokémon?"

I nod. Everyone's heard of Shadow Pokémon. It all started five years ago, with a group called Team Snagem, who artificially closed the doors to Pokémon's hearts and turned them into fighting machines. It looked like they were going to succeed in taking over Orre, too, until one of their members turned traitor, a boy called Wes. He stole their Snag Machine and snagged every Shadow Pokémon from their owners, purified each one and put an end to the group in charge of Team Snagem - Cipher.

"Well, we developed this Snag Machine to take back such modified Pokémon. Why this is needed now can be explained later, but for now I'd just like you to test this machine. After all," Krane adds with a grin, "you're the best trainer at this Lab."

It's kind of sad, really…the fact that I'm the best trainer here. Clearly, we wouldn't stand much chance in the case of an invasion, so maybe I should talk to Krane and Datan about getting a security system put in at some point. There's always a first time.

"Here you go, Michael," Aidan breaks in, offering me a complicated-looking machine that I don't have the slightest idea how to put on. Luckily, he reads my expression. "Hold out your arm," he says, and when I do, he presses part of the machine to my shoulder and sticks it there with a couple of black straps. With that done, he has me slip on the other part like a glove, and presses the Poke Ball icon in the middle of the glove. It glows bright blue, and the wire connecting both parts of the machine starts pulsing with blue light as well.

Aidan stands back and examines me. "It looks like it fits perfectly. Looks cool, too," he adds with a smile. Take this as well," he says, fastening a curl of metal behind my ear.

"What's this?" I ask, poking at it with the hand not encased in a glove.

"It's called the Aura Reader," Krane tells me. "Normal people can't tell Shadow Pokémon and normal Pokémon apart easily, so we made this to aide in figuring out which Pokémon are Shadow and which Pokémon are not. When you see a Shadow Pokémon, the Aura Reader will tell you."

"I'm going to add a new feature to your P*DA," Aidan says abruptly. "It's called the Shadow Monitor, and it'll let you check the data on the Shadow Pokémon you've encountered. Could you hand it to me?"

I nod, fish the electrical device out of my pocket, and give it to Aidan. He promptly slots a card into the side of the P*DA, and when the machine gives a loud, high-pitched beep, he pulls the card back out and returns the device to me. "There you go."

"Thanks," I say, and Krane claps his hands once.

"That's it, Michael. From here on out, though, it'll be a lot more simple to just show you how it works in practice rather then trying to describe it to you. With that said, let's head up to the Battle Sim System room." With that, Krane turns and walks out the door, presumably heading to the Sim room.

Before I can follow, Aidan grabs my arm. "Wait!" he says. "I almost forgot to give you these." Releasing my arm, he grabs a cardboard box from a nearby table and offers it to me. I peek inside; it's full of red-and-white capsules I instantly recognize as Poke Balls. "In order to make the Snag Machine work, you need at least one Poke Ball. Why don't you take five of them?"

I quickly grab five of the orbs from the box and stuff them into the bag at my hip. Luckily, they fit in the bag, packed as it is with potions and the strange broccoli-candy Dr. Kaminko gave me. "Where did you get these?" I ask; it's common knowledge nobody sells Poke Balls in Orre. With the lack of wild Pokémon, there's just no need for them.

"They were imported from Unova; Professor Krane's good friends with the Professor there," he replies. "You're all set, right?"

I open my mouth to reply, but before I can speak there is a scream from the lobby. This causes me to jump about five feet into the air. Aidan promptly makes a dash for the door and I follow him; from this distance I can hear Professor Krane's voice. "Wha- who are you people? What are you doing here?"

We emerge from the room in time to see the doors into the Lab slide shut. Lucy is standing by the desk, looking wide-eyed and quite startled. As soon as she realizes Aidan and I are standing there, she runs towards us, which is an impractical thing to do in high heels. She nearly falls on her face, but manages to stay upright. "Some strange men came in and took the Professor!"

"Let's go," I yell at Aidan. Luckily, everyone who works at the Lab has a brain in between their ears - except, perhaps, Ryan and Jovi - so instead of standing there in shock he follows me in a flat-out run towards the doors. They open to let us outside and the first thing I notice is Stefan, lying on the sidewalk. His Patrat seems to be beside him; at least it hasn't been stolen. Aidan immediately runs towards him, dropping to his knees to examine him.

"Michael, go get the Professor! I'll help Stefan," he yells at me, and I give him a quick thumbs-up before rushing down the sidewalk. I end up standing behind a group of men in strange white armor, wearing what appear to be bandannas around their necks. The biggest one is holding Professor Krane with his arms pinned behind his back as he struggles.

"Let go of me!" the Professor yells, struggling in a fruitless attempt to get free. "Where do you think you're taking me?"

The guy holding Krane chuckles slightly. "I'm taking you to your new lab, Professor."

I reach for Prince's Poke Ball as Krane attempts to kick the man, but the attack is useless as his foot simply collides with the guy's armored shin. "What are you talking about?"

The guy snorts. "It doesn't matter right now, so if you don't want to get hurt, stop trying to hurt me and hustle yourself into the car."

Krane snarls and whips his foot back to kick the guy's shin again, but the larger man doesn't notice, which is all well and good. Before anything else can happen, I lift Prince's Poke Ball into the air and step forwards, purposely bringing my foot down hard on the cobbled sidewalk to make a loud thudding noise that causes the attention of everyone to turn to me. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I snap - I'm not known for polite language in the face of danger.

The man in the yellow scarf is the only one that actually turns to face me. The rest of them just kind of tilt their heads, and although Krane tries to take advantage of this momentary distraction by attempting to pull his arms free, I can see the bigger man's grip tighten and the Professor gives a cry of pain.

Yellow-scarf man smirks at me. "What do you want, punk? You going to play hero and try to stop us? Well, that's not going to happen. I don't show mercy to anyone, especially not some snot-nosed kid." With that, he whips out a Poke Ball and throws it to the ground. A flash of blue-white light emerges and forms into a small bear which I instantly recognize as a Teddiursa. Reflexively taking a step backwards, I release my own Pokémon. When Prince appears, he does something uncharacteristic; instead of giving his foe innocent eyes, he growls deep in his throat and his tail sticks straight backward, ears pulling back against his skull.

_Shadow Pokémon detected! _something says loudly, right into my ear. I jump as a thin piece of see-through glass slides in front of my face with a high-pitched whirring sound. Suddenly, my surroundings turn several shades darker, and a violet aura surrounds the Teddiursa for a few moments before the glass retreats.

"The hell…" I mutter. Luckily, the man holding Professor Krane has turned around to watch the battle with a look of amused interest, and upon noticing my expression Krane decides to help me out a bit.

"Michael! The Aura Reader is responding! That's a Shadow Pokémon! Hurry, throw a Poke Ball at it!" At this point, the big man grunts and covers Krane's mouth with one oversized fist while keeping hold of the Professor's arms with the other.

Pokémon should be weakened before you throw a Poke Ball at them; I know that much. But something about the urgency of Krane's tone gets to me and, instead of ignoring him and ordering a Bite attack from Eevee, I reflexively lift my gloved hand back.

A Poke Ball materializes right in the center of the glove and, without thinking about it, I spin in a neat circle and release the capsule. It lazily sails through the air, but halfway to its target, the ball opens up to reveal a hand of glittering orange energy. The hand swoops down, Poke Ball still attached, and scoops the bear into the capsule. Yellow-scarf man's eyes widen as the ball drops to the ground, shakes three times, and makes a sharp ding, signaling a successful capture. I hold out my gloved hand and the ball soars into the air and lands in the center of the glove. I pluck the capsule out of the glove with my other hand and stow the Poke Ball in my belt.

"What the…" Yellow-scarf says, his blank expression turning into an angry scowl. "My Shadow Teddiursa…was that a snag?"

I glance over at Krane. The big man seems to have removed his hand from the Professor's mouth and I notice a satisfied grin on Krane's face. I shoot him a smirk of my own in response. This'll teach them not to try and kidnap staff of the Pokémon HQ Lab in future - hopefully.

"What is that thing on your arm?" Yellow-scarf snaps, turning towards his companion. Said companion, a short man with a red scarf, stares at me for a beat before responding.

"It's a Snag Machine!" he shouts, clearly quite astonished by this. "What the heck is that doing here? I thought Wes had the last one of those, and it didn't look like this one at all!"

"That's big news!" Yellow-scarf yells, grabbing Red-scarf's arm. "Come on, let's move! We need to report this to headquarters right now!" With that, they both take off towards a large red-and-gray car parked near the bike rack. I dash forwards after them, and it's only then that I realize the largest man of the trio has already tossed Krane into the back of the vehicle. He climbs into the front seat as I descend the steps and the giant machine roars to life. Both Yellow-scarf and Red-scarf man are in front of me, and as soon as they grab onto the ladders on either side of the back of the vehicle, it jerks forwards and starts heading down the path.

Yowling loudly, Prince bolts after them and makes a heroic leap. He lands on Yellow-scarf's leg and bites down right between the plates of white armor covering the man's leg. His sharp white teeth easily pierce the black material serving as a kind of shield for the spots the white armor doesn't quite reach and Yellow-scarf screams in pain. I quickly recall Prince before the car disappears down the road.

With my Pokémon safe, I stand there, staring blankly after the vehicle, for what seems like an age. Eventually, I am jolted back to awareness by footsteps nearby; Aidan is drawing level with me, and when he does he places a hand on my shoulder. I'm not sure if the gesture is meant to be comforting or if he's trying to keep himself from falling over.

"They kidnapped the Professor," he states flatly, as though he can't quite believe it. It isn't until the clouds of dust kicked up by the car's wheels and…hover systems…have faded until he speaks again, and the two words he says are a little too obvious.

"We're screwed."

It seems to take quite a long time to walk back to the Lab, take Stefan to his bedroom, and inform everyone of any importance that Professor Krane has been kidnapped. When we do, we end up in the room where I originally obtained the Snag Machine, with my Mom and our resident tech geek Datan standing there silently as Jovi sobs uncontrollably into her palms. Aidan, for his part, is staring blankly at the wall.

"They took the Professor away!" she cries, sniffling unhappily as she wipes her eyes with her sleeves, covering the white cloth with damp spots. "Jovi wasn't there to stop them, and Big Brother can't stop the bad guys on his own!"

I scowl, sufficiently irritated with her sense of self-importance to forget how upset I am about the whole kidnapping ordeal. Mom shoots me a glance - a sort of 'don't start anything now' look - and pats Jovi on the back. "It's okay, Jovi, Don't cry. I'm sure Professor Krane will be fine."

"Really?" she sniffles, looking up at Mom.

Before she can reply, Aidan's head jerks up; he's snapped out of it, apparently. "I've had people contact the police and the proper authorities about Professor Krane," he says, wisely avoiding the word 'kidnapping' as though he knows that will bring on a new round of tears. "They will let us know if they discover anything. But I still can't believe this is happening…"

Mom sighs, and I glance up at her. "Professor Krane predicted that someone would again try making Shadow Pokémon," she says, voice emotionless. "It seems his prediction was on the mark."

"If that's true," Aidan says slowly, "the Teddiursa you snagged probably isn't the only Shadow Pokémon that was made. And in addition to that, the Purify Chamber's still not finished. When it's done, we'll be able to purify lots of Shadow Pokémon at once, but until then…Professor Krane is crucial to the Purify Chamber project, and without him we can't do anything."

Mom's head suddenly snaps up. "We're going to complete it. We can finish the Purify Chamber by ourselves."

Aidan blinks. "But - you know that's not possible! Without Krane here, it's hopeless; there isn't any way to get it done! We only got this far because of him, and we can only finish it because of him!"

"That's not true," Mom replies firmly. "We're on the verge of finishing, and this isn't the time to mope and feel sorry for ourselves. How do we know what we can do until we try? Anyways, we all worked on the Purify Chamber; we got this far not because of Professor Krane, but because we worked on it as a team. It would be stupid to stop now. We can finish this project as one, even without him here. That means things are going to get very busy around here," she adds, eyeing Jovi and I. Luckily, my younger sister has stopped crying, and is instead staring at Mom with wide eyes. "You guys will have to help. Right now, though, it's getting late, so I say we start tomorrow morning. Any objections?"

She glances around, and when nobody responds, she gives us all a satisfied nod. "It's settled, then. We'll start tomorrow."

"Okay," I say with a yawn. "In that case, I'm going to bed and not bothering with food. I've had a little too much excitement today." I glance at Jovi, but she's too busy rubbing at her eyes to notice, and so I leave her there and step out into the hall.

The hallways are full of people as usual, even though they should all be eating dinner unless they have the same idea as me. Predictably, they're all talking about Professor Krane's kidnapping. There's enough voices to even drown out the constant whirr and hum of the machinery that goes on night and day. I dodge around the people and head towards the elevator; when I finally make it there, one person enters with me. I shoot a glance at their face; it's Ryan. Handy.

"Hey, Ryan," I say with a smirk, and rummage around in my bag, pulling out a single piece of the candy Kaminko gave me and offering it to him. "Here you go."

Rather predictably, Ryan only scowls at me. "Nice try, Michael, but I know you and, as such, know you wouldn't offer me that unless it was poisoned or tasted like broccoli."

I grunt in response, but am spared from saying anything else as the elevator door opens. When it does, I step out, roll my eyes in Ryan's direction, and flick the piece of candy at him. There is a satisfying thud as it connects with his forehead and he yelps. Before he can come after me, though, I stick my tongue out at him and dash off into the crowd.

We're all entitled to acting like a kid sometimes…especially around people we hate.

From there, I make my way to my bedroom. When I finally reach the door, it slides open as I approach instead of waiting for me to slide my ID into the card slot nearby; this is likely part of the repairs Krane had been talking about. When it closes behind me, I manually lock it and look around the room. It looks just like I left it earlier, which means nobody's gotten into it. Good.

My bare hand drifts down to the capsules attached to my waist and lands on Prince's Poke Ball instinctively. I lift it from my waist and hold it into the air, and unclip the belt it was attached to with my gloved hand, dropping it onto the table along with the Shadow Teddiursa's Poke Ball.

I don't feel safe letting out the bear right now, so I only release Prince. The Eevee appears and bears his teeth, still stained crimson with the blood of Yellow-scarf, but when he notices I'm the only one in the room he quiets down and looks up at me with wide eyes. After a pause, he tilts his head and mews.

"Krane's gone," I tell him, and he growls unhappily before leaping up onto the bed and burying his face in the pillow.

"Prince!" I yelp, and quickly run over, lifting him up and off the furniture. He blinks and tilts his head at me in response. "I don't want you getting blood all over the sheets and pillow," I tell him sternly, although he's able to tell I don't mean it and simply nips at my arm until I drop him on the floor again.

I sit down on the edge of my bed and glance at Prince. "We're going to rescue him," I say matter-of-factly. The Eevee nods and sits down at the foot of the bed. "And we're going to start tomorrow," I add. "Those stupid idiots aren't getting away with this." Instead of looking excited by this notion, though, Prince only wags his tail once, yawns, and curls up in a ball.

I eye him dubiously. "Fine, Prince. Good night," and with that, I lean back, resting my head on the pillow and pulling the sheets over my body. I don't bother with switching into any sort of special clothes for bed, since I know I'll be getting up early the next morning. Instead, I mutter a single word under my breath - "_Lights_" - and the room is instantly plunged into darkness.

Since I don't exactly know how to reattach the Snag Machine to my arm (or take it off), I leave it on - I'll talk to Aidan about it tomorrow - and close my eyes.


End file.
